12 Days of Christmas
by ShayLeighJoy
Summary: Series of 12 drabbles that relate to Christmas in some way or another!
1. A Man With A Santa Suit

Day 1: A man with a Santa suit

Felicity walked into the Foundry after work, and started talking before she even reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You guys will never guess who came by Applied Sciences today."

"Was it Oliver?" Roy yelled from somewhere in the back. A second later Felicity heard someone hit the mat; probably Roy. Felicity sat down and booted up her computers.

Minutes later, just as Felicity was about to start talking again, Oliver and Roy wandered over to where she was sitting in her desk chair.

"Who?" They were both staring expectantly, hoping to an interesting answer.

"Some guy came up and was wandering around asking if we had seen a Santa suit. Followed by a guard a minute later asking we had seen a guy with a Santa suit." She paused. "To be honest that's about all I know, but I mean come on, it's Applied Sciences; not the lost and found." Both men kept staring at her.

"Really Felicity? That's the story?" Roy spoke grumpily.

"Well it was certainly the funniest thing that happened all day. Well, at least that you would be able to understand." Roy stuck out his tongue at her, and she responded in kind.

"Really guys?" Oliver spoke up. "Are we four year olds?"

"Well I certainly wonder that from time to time." A voice rang out from the stairwell, the trio turning to find Diggle heading towards them. He was carrying a couple of bags and Felicity could already smell the food that was inside them.

"Oooo. What kind of food?" Roy looked at her.

"Isn't that way off topic?"

"I'm hungry!" Without another word, Digg handed her a bag that had several little boxes of Chinese food.

With a smile and a squeal she spun around in her chair, moving to the side just a little, so that she could pull out all of her food. She was so heavily engrossed in her food and the programs running on the computer screens that she didn't even realize that nearly an hour had passed and the boys were getting ready to head out for a patrol. It took Oliver tapping her on the shoulder and saying her name multiple times before she realized what was happening.

"What?" She turned around quickly. Oliver opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Felicity started laughing. The guys just looked at each other before looking back at her.

"What the hell Felicity?" Roy asked her, not amused by her laughter.

"Did you guys ever notice that you are practically Christmas?" All three men looked confused. "Guys! Seriously?" Felicity couldn't believe that didn't see it. A snicker from her right confirmed that Digg had figured out what she had laughed at.

"You two are red and green. I don't know about you guys, but that makes me think of Christmas." She paused for a moment. "And I don't even celebrate it!" Roy and Oliver looked at each other, at themselves, and back at the other. Roy groaned.

"Aww, come on!"


	2. And then, to finish, we'll snuggle!

Day 2: Quote from "Elf"

Stepping back from tree, Felicity watched Oliver lift their four year old up to put the star on top of the tree. Their front room was glowing brightly, both from the four lit candles on the menorah and from the hundreds of lights wrapped around the tree. Across the room their seven year old was picking out a Christmas movie to watch as soon as the tree was done. When Tommy came running into the room, holding a DVD in his hand.

"I've found the perfect movie!" He waved the box around.

"Alright. Go set it up." Oliver was gently setting Sara on the ground again.

As Tommy disappeared back into the other room, Felicity pulled herself off the couch and followed him in. The four of them settled onto the couch ready for their family movie night.

The movie ended about 90 minutes later, only to discover that Sara had fallen asleep and was currently resting her head on Tommy's leg. Of course at the same time, Felicity was half-dozing on Oliver's leg. Tommy turned off the TV, while Oliver picked up Sara and followed Tommy up the stairs.

When Oliver returned to his room, Felicity was already curled up in bed so he moved quietly before settling in bed.

He felt like he had just fallen asleep when the bouncing started. Opening his eyes he saw two little blond heads move in and out of his line of vision. He could just barely feel Felicity moving next to him, so he knew she was waking up too. She must have opened her eyes because Sara and Tommy started yelling.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" They bounced more intensely. "It snowed last night!" When no one spoke up the kids started again. "Come on mommy! You and daddy need to get up! We gots to go outside." Sara spoke excitedly. Felicity just rolled over and grumbled into Oliver's chest. He couldn't hear it, but there was no way that she wasn't saying something about coffee. He kissed her hair, before sliding out of bed.

"Come on guys, let's go downstairs so I can make coffee for mommy." Both kids scrambled off the bed and half ran downstairs. Oliver turned back to Felicity. "I'll be back in five minutes with your coffee." She was already half asleep again, but he could still tell when she mumbled something along the lines of 'see this is why I love you.'

It was nearly half an hour later when everyone was finally getting ready to go out in the snow. The kids raced outside while Oliver and Felicity paused on the steps. Oliver leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"I planned out our whole day. First we'll make snow angels for two hours, and then we'll go ice skating, and then we'll eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough as fast as we can, and then, to finish, we'll snuggle."

"Really? You memorized that whole thing?" A sly look crossed Oliver's face.

"Maybe, but you know you want to." He gave her that smile, that one that was and always had been hers and she couldn't say no, even if she wanted to.

"We'll have to see about two hours of snow angels, but cookie dough and snuggling might be the best idea you've ever had." Oliver opened his mouth to answer, but was hit with a snowball. Across the yard Tommy was laughing. Or at least he was until he saw Oliver jump down the stairs and start racing towards him; then he ran like crazy, trying to escape Oliver and his snowball skills and trying to not run into his giggling sister. Felicity smiled from her spot on the stairs. This wasn't how she expected the day to go when she'd woken up to the two bouncing kids, but now… now it was going to be a really good day.


	3. 5:30- Jazzercize

Today's prompt was a quote from How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I chose this quote:

"Inviting me down there - on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn't allow it. 4:00, wallow in self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one; 5:30, jazzercize; 6:30, dinner with me - I can't cancel that again; 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing... I'm booked. Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness."

Day 3: The Grinch

Oliver was grumpy; even more so than usual. At first Felicity thought he just needed a little time to take it out on a punching bag, but now, an hour later, Roy was nursing a black eye, Digg was getting his ass kicked, and a punching bag, and two pairs of fighting sticks had been broken. Felicity decided she'd talk to him soon, just not quite yet; she'd finish what she was doing.

When Diggle came to the front of the lair ten minutes later, holding his arm carefully and limping.

"Roy. Help me out here." Before Felicity could turn away Roy had reset Digg's shoulder. Shaking off her discomfort, she started her computers on several searches and got up.

"Okay. I'll go brave the grumpy cat." Walking back towards the spot Digg and Roy had come from, she found Oliver up on one of the ceiling pipes pouting. Standing below him, hands on her hips, she yelled up to him.

"So you the Grinch today? Because you seem to have moved from wallowing in self-pity to staring into the abyss, right on schedule. Just give it a couple more hours and after dinner, alone of course, you can wrestle with all of your self-loathing." He glared at her before making his way down.

"Really? Is that what I'm doing?" He was stalking towards her angrily. She didn't move.

"Yeah. Right now it is. You realize what you've done to your friends don't you?" Oliver didn't answer. "Your… grinchy-ness has left Roy with a black eye and Digg with a limp and a newly relocated shoulder." It was Felicity's turn to glare.

When Oliver dropped to the ground in the middle of the mats, Felicity sighed and dropped her angry face. Now she was just concerned.

"What's wrong Oliver?" He opened his mouth. "And I mean more so than usual." He looked down.

"It's just stuff." Felicity rolled her eyes.

"It may just be 'stuff', but you're hurting your friends… and I care about you. I want to help you. Just because you help people most of the time, doesn't mean that you don't ever need help. I thought we'd covered this a while ago." She grabbed his hand.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, just take it easy on everyone else okay?" He didn't say anything, but he looked calmer so she moved to get up, or at least she tried since Oliver didn't let go of her hand and pulled her back down onto the mat.

"Felicity… thank you. I may talk later, but right now is the time okay?" She framed his face.

"Of course Oliver. I just want to help. Though if it involves Starling City or the team or something I kind of do need to know so that I can do my job here… Sorry." Oliver cracked a little smile.

"I'll talk later tonight okay? I'm going to go take this out on the salmon ladder."

Felicity was back to her seat at the computers before Oliver had even started.


	4. All I Want For Christmas Is You

This one was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, so hopefully y'all enjoy it anyway!

Day 4: Just fuck me for Christmas

Felicity was standing in her bathroom finishing her make-up. Tonight was Queen Consolidated's Holiday Party and Felicity had to attend, or God knows what Oliver would do. She had just finished up when her phone vibrated, alerting her to the arrival of Oliver and Digg.

Leaving her house she could see Oliver waiting by the open back door to the car. Confused she approached him.

"You being the black driver tonight?" She heard Diggle snort from the front seat. Oliver smiled.

"No. I lost a bet with Digg." Felicity laughed. "You look great Felicity." She blushed.

"Thank you."

It had started snowing when they arrived in front of Queen Consolidated. Again Oliver came around, but this time it was more to make sure she didn't slip in her heels. Inside she could already see the huge crowds of people, so almost immediately she split off from Oliver; leaving him to do his thing and hopefully allowing her to hide.

She went upstairs and settled into her desk and pulled up one of the programs she was working on. Hopefully Oliver would just think she was around somewhere.

She was completely immersed in her project when she heard the elevator ding. Her head shot up to find Oliver exiting the elevator. She ducked her head hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Felicity." She had to keep herself from groaning, but she looked up.

"Uhh… hey Oliver. What's up?"

"Have you been hiding up here all evening?" She hesitated before answering.

"Uhh maybe. I just wasn't needed downstairs, but I had to make sure you actually came to the party and did your job." Oliver pulled a chair over to her.

"You didn't have to come you know." Felicity shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. I wasn't doing anything at home." Oliver stood up and held out a hand.

"Well do you want to dance with me? Girls have been trying to get me to dance with them all night, but they aren't the one I want to dance with." Felicity was confused but still took his hand and stood up.

They'd been dancing for a couple minutes when Oliver leaned down to speak softly in her ear.

"You know I'd go anywhere for you? If you really wanted, I would have come one my own. I just prefer having you here." Felicity buried her face in his shoulder, unsure of what to do next. She didn't realize they'd stopped moving until Oliver spoke again.

"Not to be cliché and quote Christmas songs, but all I want for Christmas is you." Felicity smacked his chest.

"Really? You're a dork." He smiled.

"At least I didn't say what some girl said to me downstairs? She literally walked up to me and said 'would you just fuck me for Christmas?'" Felicity's jaw dropped.

"Seriously? Some chick walked up to the CEO of the company and asked for a fuck. Jeez."

"Exactly. This is why I'd much rather be up here with you; you're the only one I'd want to do anything with."

"Oh my god. We're alone and you're making me blush like crazy." He leaned down close.

"Well maybe that's the point." He didn't give her a chance to respond before he pressed his lips to hers. She may not have been able to see him, but somehow she knew he was smiling for the second time since they had arrived at the party.


	5. Christmas Cookies

This isn't really about cookies too much, but I think I like it. Plus I really wanted to write another Kids! AU drabble.

Day 5: Cookies

It was two days before Christmas when Raisa pulled the kids all the kids together to bake the Christmas cookies. It was a time that every appreciated that the Queen's kitchen was so big because trying to fit in everyone any other way just would not work.

With all the kids set around the island, besides Thea who was on the table in a bouncy-seat, Raisa rolled out a bit of dough for each child and left them with cookie cutters. Leaving them to their cookie cutting, she took Thea upstairs to take her nap.

All five kids enjoyed themselves cutting the cookies and leaving them on the tray for Raisa to put into the oven, headed out into the snow. Oliver and Tommy started a snowball fight almost immediately, chasing each other across the yard. Sara set herself to building a snowman and Laurel soon joined her. Felicity was on her own, but that wasn't out of the ordinary.

She had wandered back towards the pond she liked to sit by in the warmer weather. She could just hear the boys yelling somewhere behind her, but she tuned them out, instead flopping over in the snow and moving her arms and legs to create a snow angel. Eventually she stopped and just laid there, not bothering to do anything besides stare at the sky. It was easy to tell that it was going to snow again tonight; even with the sun the sky was still gray.

She was still lying there when she realized the boys yells had faded. As it was getting dark she considered getting up, but she just wasn't feeling it- even if there were fresh cookies to be had inside. She wasn't really feeling cold, so she just hung out there until she felt small vibrations moving towards her. Turning around she saw Oliver walking towards her.

Of course it was him. He's the only one who could ever find her. He appeared in front of her in his jeans and coat, obviously having been inside for a while. Even the prospect of wet jeans would stop him for settling down next to her.

"So. 'Licity, why are you still sitting out here in the snow? We've all been in for at least thirty minutes." Felicity shrugged.

"I didn't feel like building a snow man or having a snow ball fight so I wandered back here and then I lied down, and I just didn't get up." Oliver stood up and held out a hand.

"Well let's go inside. Your parents will freak out if we let you get hypothermia." Felicity took his hand, knowing she needed to go back in, even if she kind of wanted to stay where she was; if just for a little bit longer.

She followed Oliver back towards the house, but grabbed the chance when it presented itself; pelting him with a well-made snowball. He wasn't expecting it and he jumped. She expected retaliation, but instead he just looked at her.

"Next time we have a snowball fight, I want you on my team." With a smile she followed him into the house to find two mugs of hot chocolate and a couple cookies waiting for them.

"You didn't eat your cookies yet?" Oliver shook his head.

"I didn't want you to eat alone." She moved to hug him, an action that was returned before he pulled her over to the table.

"Let's eat!"


	6. Will he see how much he means to me?

Day 6: Nightmare before Christmas lyric

"And does he notice my feelings for him? And will he see how much he means to me?"

From the moment Oliver Queen had walked into her office, Felicity had been enamored with him. She knew of his reputation; at least the reputation he'd had back in 2007, but so far she hadn't seen any evidence of that boy. The Oliver she'd seen (only in passing), was well-dressed, obviously in shape, was polite to everyone, and (thank god) had gotten a much better haircut. At least compared to the photos she'd seen.

She liked to think that if he had been the previous Ollie Queen she would have been able to keep her cool and not ramble, but he was obviously not "Ollie" any more. So when he approached her the first time with the bullet hole-ridden laptop she rambled and agreed to help him.

She got the information off the computer for him and gave it to him, even though she got more suspicious every time she mentioned something he should have known about, yet it usually left him asking more questions than they had started with.

The second time he asked her for something he wanted her to analyze a green liquid in a syringe. He claimed it to be an energy drink, but she didn't believe it. Apparently when Ollie turned into Oliver he lost his ability to lie.

She got everything together and analyzed the "drink" only to find Vertigo. She thought about being direct with him, but instead just listed the main compounds and pretended to be oblivious when he took the list off somewhere.

Of course it wasn't until he showed up in the back of her car that she realized he wasn't a liar; at least not really. Finding a man all in green who knew her name freaked her out a little, but she was surprised that she relaxed almost immediately after he reveled himself. She helped save his life, and shortly after that agreed to help find Walter before she left them.

Even after she said that, she knew right away that she would not leave them; at least not if she could help it. She was in it for the long haul now.

So now, two years later, she was surprised when Oliver actually admitted to his feelings for her, finally acknowledging her feelings for what they were. For a whole year she had been worried that he wouldn't ever notice, or understand how important he was to her.

They got their acts together, but at the first sign of trouble Oliver backed off again. Felicity was about ready to give up when Oliver came back from "the dead" and didn't waste time. He had dumped his bag at the bottom of the stairs, and ignoring everything else, ran over to her and kissed her deeply.

All Felicity could think was that he finally realized how much she loved him, and apparently how much he loved her.


	7. Up on the rooftop

Day 7: Lights set to Music

Oliver expected to find his wife in her office or the kitchen, or even outside somewhere, but he did NOT expect to pull up to the house and find her preparing to climb off a ladder and onto the roof. He could see Mia at the bottom holding onto a bundle of lights that snaked up after Felicity and he finally found Tommy sitting on the front porch staring intently at his laptop. He approached Tommy because of this; as he didn't want to be the reason that his wife fell off the roof and hurt herself. Sitting down next to Tommy, he could see several programs running on the screen.

"Tommy." He spoke loudly, managing to pull him out of the computer.

"Huh?" Tommy looked up. "Oh. Hi dad."

"Hi. Do you by any chance have an explanation for your mother being on the roof with a four year old spotting her?" He jumped up.

"Crap. She was supposed to call me over when she was ready to go up." Oliver groaned towards the sky. His wife was going to be the death of him.

Tommy had jumped up and was running over towards the ladder, so Oliver followed.

"Mom!" Tommy was yelling as loudly as he could at the base of the ladder. Without turning around or even pausing in her work she yelled back down.

"What's up Tommy? Is the program going okay?" Tommy sent a quick glance to Oliver.

"Yeah. It's going well. I should be done pretty soon." She didn't answer, so Tommy wandered off.

"Felicity." Oliver spoke strongly, only needing the one word to grab his wife's attention. Even though her back was to him, he knew exactly what her face looked like. She would be standing there debating if she should pretend that she didn't hear him, or if it would be simpler to just turn around and acknowledge him.

"I know you heard me." She groaned just loud enough that he could hear her. She climbed down the ladder.

"Hey Oliver." She spoke slowly.

"Do I even want to know why you were on the roof?"

"Uhh… Tommy and I were setting up the lights that we set to music. He was in charge of music, so I had lights."

"You couldn't wait until I got home?" Felicity threw her hands up.

"I thought you wouldn't be home for a couple more hours!"

"Well I'm here, so I'm going to take over."

"Thanks." She kissed him quickly. "I'll take Mia inside and we'll finish dinner."

"Good plan." With another smile she headed inside; far away from the roof.


	8. Nirvana

Day 8: Song Lyric

Sam Smith- Nirvana

"It's too late to get away from it all. I'm done with running, so I give into you."

Felicity woke up early on Christmas Day, even though she had no reason to. Hanukkah had ended the night before, so she didn't truly have any reason to be up. Christmas wasn't her thing, and she was alone; no family in town and no friends who weren't celebrating with their families. She still drug herself out of bed to sit in the living room and drink coffee. She sat on the couch, staring at her "Charlie Brown Christmas tree" she couldn't help but set up, and enjoyed the warmth of her coffee.

She'd just finished the second cup when there was a knock at her door. At first she almost didn't bother getting up; not expecting anyone or anything. When the knocking became more persistent though, she couldn't ignore it anymore. With a quick glance down to double check that what she was wearing was relatively presentable, she went to open the door.

Even more surprising than someone showing up on her doorstep at 9am on Christmas morning, was the fact that it was Oliver who showed up on her doorstep at 9am on Christmas morning. She froze.

"Hi." She spoke slowly; half of her mind still trying to figure out why he was here.

"Hi." He didn't say a whole lot; just smiled at her. She started rocking back and forth on her heels.

"So uhh… why are you here? Not that I mind you being here, I mean I do like having you around. But isn't Christmas supposed to be about spending time with your family? Shouldn't you be celebrating Christmas with your mom, and Thea, and probably Roy?" He didn't answer her question.

"Can I come in? It's really cold out here." Felicity nodded quickly and stepped back.

"Do you want some coffee? I just made a pot; it should still be warm." He looked like he wanted to speak, but eventually just moved off to the kitchen.

Felicity had settled back into her spot of the couch when Oliver left the kitchen with his coffee.

"So why are you here this morning? Not that I mind of course."

"It's simple Felicity. I'm done trying to run away. I'm giving in."

"Okay… Giving into what?" He approached her so that he was standing directly in front of her.

"You." Felicity opened her mouth. "I'm done running, so I'm giving into you." Felicity was speechless. Something that Oliver still had a hard time believing actually happened. She finally spoke.

"Really?" Oliver held out his hand. Without thinking, she took it and allowed him to pull her up off the couch. He pulled her close to him and made no movement towards letting her go.

"Yeah. I even brought along something to help convince you." A smirk crossed his face, worrying Felicity about what was going to happen.

He had reached into his pocket and while she missed what he had pulled out at first, it was made obvious when he held his hand above their heads. Looking up, she saw the mistletoe that he was holding.

"Really?" She had met his eyes again and waited. He just smirked again and pulled her flush against him.

"Yup." He spoke softly, before he closed the last bit of distance between them pressing his lips to hers.


	9. Dear Santa

Day 9: Dear Santa

Oliver walked into the kitchen to find his wife leaning on the counter; mug of coffee in hand. He approached her, wrapping his arms around her waist. It wasn't until he'd moved behind her that he realized that she was actually watching something in the next room.

Both Tommy and Mia were lying just below the Christmas tree, a piece of paper and two pencils between them. He bent down to whisper in Felicity's ear.

"What are they doing over there?"

"What do you think they're doing? They're writing a letter for Santa!" Oliver didn't comment. Setting down her coffee, she turned in Oliver's arms. "Really? Please tell me you've written a letter to Santa before?"

"Uhh… no I haven't. My parents never had me or Thea write a letter to Santa."

"Oliver." She glared at him. "I'm Jewish and I've written letters to Santa, not even for a real reason. It was more like school or my neighbors or somebody. I don't know." She paused for a moment. "It doesn't matter though! We are going to solve this problem right now!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him over towards their kids.

"Tommy. Mia. Your daddy wants to write a letter to Santa too." Mia jumped up, a huge smile on her face.

"Come on daddy! You can write on my paper." Felicity left Oliver with Mia and headed back to the kitchen to finish her coffee.

It had only taken another fifteen minutes for Felicity to finish her coffee and head upstairs. It took another forty-five minutes for Mia and Tommy to come through to say goodnight and go to bed. Fifteen minutes later Oliver headed upstairs and came into the room.

"So how did your letter go?" She flashed a smile at him.

"It went fine."

"So… I can see it right? I mean I have to see both of the kid's letters anyway." He handed over the three pieces of paper. She glanced over Tommy's and Mia's letters before moving on to Oliver's.

_Dear "Santa"_

_For Christmas I don't need much, just for my wife to go on a trip with me and leave the kids here. On the other hand, the Arrow needs a new bow. He kind of broke the last one and hasn't told his partner about it yet. _

Felicity looked up.

"Really Oliver? You broke another bow already?" He grinned at her. Felicity groaned.

"Well, now that I satisfied your need for me to write a letter to Santa, can we go to bed? I wanna sleep." He gave a really fake whine.

"Fine." Felicity turned off the light and settled down into bed. It was quiet for a moment before she spoke again.

"The Arrow is lucky he has a girl Wednesday who loves him. Otherwise he'd be arrowless." He pulled her close.

"Yeah. Real lucky."


	10. On The Tree

Day 10: Ornament

Felicity sat in front of the fireplace, watching the flickering flames dance. It was her first Christmas since she and Oliver had gotten together, and she still wasn't sure what she was doing. Oliver had been good about making sure she could celebrate Hanukah, and she wanted to do the same.

They'd gone out to get a tree just yesterday, and once he got done with his late meeting they'd planned to decorate the tree. Glancing around the room Felicity could see all the boxes full of decorations, waiting to be unpacked and admired.

Oliver got home to find Felicity sitting in front of the fire.

"What's wrong?" She jumped.

"You scared me."

"Sorry." He shrugged, not looking at all sorry. He sat down next to her. "So what's wrong?" This time Felicity was the one to shrug.

"Nothing major. Christmas in the Queen's household is just a little intimidating." He hugged her.

"I'm glad you want to participate though." He gave her a grin and pulled her up. "Now! Let's decorate that tree!"

It was the next year that Felicity gave Oliver an ornament shaped like a heart with an arrow through it. It may have been cliché, but she liked it, and he certainly seemed to think it was appropriate.

Two years after their first Christmas he was the one to gift Felicity with two new ornaments. The first was a tiny menorah to hang on the tree, which Felicity did really like. On the other hand, it was the other ornament that took the cake. Oliver had reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Felicity was confused at first, but nearly went into shock once he explained. The keys in his hand actually weren't for the tree- they were for an actual house. After he'd told the news he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a skeleton key. 'This is the one for the tree.' He'd said.

The third year came with two linked gold circles. They'd been married for nearly a year already, but they didn't mind.

They didn't do anything special for the next year; at least ornament wise. It was on Christmas Eve that Felicity told Oliver she was pregnant with a pair of ornaments; one an "expecting mom" and the other an "expecting dad". He cried.

The next year of course came with an ornament announcing the birth of their son, Tommy, born in the middle of October.

For their fifth year together, it was Oliver's turn to surprise her. He was almost embarrassed, after the exciting ones she'd given him every other year. He had two simple ones; one shaped like Nevada and the other shaped like Massachusetts. He tried to explain how it represented her past, but he got tongue tied. Felicity didn't care.

The sixth year brought another baby. This time the ornament announced the birth of their daughter, Mia, who had been born in early November.

After that, the tree ornaments became less about them and more about their kids. Before the next Christmas Tommy was already three and Mia was one. Each year they gave the kids a special ornament, and while they may not have appreciated it, or understood the significance right then, they would eventually and then they could use it to tell their own story.


	11. Its Cold Outside

Day 11: Baby its cold outside

It was the seventh night of Hanukkah and the day before Christmas Eve that Oliver and Felicity finally took an evening to celebrate the holidays together. They hadn't really celebrated of course, it was more that they took the time to spend time together without Team Arrow or Starling City interrupting. Not that it hadn't tried of course. They ignored any calls; instead waiting for it to appear on the news. If it wasn't there, they didn't care tonight.

Either way they didn't do much, their current position, which was Oliver laying across the couch; Felicity half-draped across him, head resting against his chest. They'd had some Christmas movie on, but it had ended and neither had made any effort to move.

In the hall, a clock rang, signaling that the time was now eleven pm. Felicity groaned.

"I'm gonna have to leave before it gets even later I guess." Oliver gripped her like a two year old with a teddy bear.

"Nope. You're staying here."

"I can't." She smiled sadly. "I have to finish a couple things at home." She tried to sit up; this time Oliver releasing her, but neither made a move to get up any further. She paused for just a moment before leaning down and kissing him. "Walk me out?" Oliver nodded.

Out in the hallway Felicity slid on her boots and allowed Oliver to help her with her coat. Oliver stepped forward and opened the door for her and a gust of wind flew through the house.

"Baby, it's cold outside." Felicity glared at him.

"Don't think I didn't see what you did there." He grinned.

"Sure you still want to leave?" Felicity bit her lip.

"Well…" Oliver took the opportunity that she presented in her hesitation. He shut the door and set the security system before turning back to her.

"So you're staying?" He looked hopeful. Felicity sighed.

"I really do have stuff to do."

"Please Felicity?" She hesitated. "My bed'll be warmer than your house anyways. I mean I'm there."

"Fine." Oliver broke out the biggest smile that Felicity had ever seen from him in the past few years.

Helping her take off her coat, and waiting while she removed her boots, Oliver was patient, but as soon as the boots were off he grabbed her hand to pull her up the stairs.

Even with how much Felicity had been here, she still had trouble finding his room; each time felt longer than the last. When he finally stopped, she released his hand.

"I call shower!" She ran off.

Ten minutes later she returned to the room dressed in a long t-shirt and headed over to wear Oliver was lying in his bed. He turned to her.

"Baby, its warm inside." He smiled at her in an extremely cocky way. Felicity groaned.

"That was terrible." She commented as she settled in. After she had pulled the covers up and over her shoulder, Oliver attached himself to her. Pulling her back against him, he went to whisper in her ear.

"See. I told you it's warm in here." And just as she was about to agree, he poked at her leg with freezing cold feet.


	12. I'll be home for Christmas

Day 12: "A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea."- Honore de Balzac

He wasn't back. He'd told her that he'd return as soon as he could and he wasn't back. Felicity knew this trip to see Ra's Al Ghul would either be short, long, and forever. She'd hoped for short, but now, two months later, something else must have happened. She started searching for him like she had after the undertaking; desperate to find any sign of life.

Of course she did still help Roy and Digg in the lair, but she knew the looks they were giving each other when they thought she was lost in some program. She never acknowledged it though; there wasn't a reason.

The time still passed slowly, with no sign. Thea had, of course, figured out that her brother was in love with Felicity so she tried to keep her involved in Queen family events. She'd made up some story that identified her as Oliver's fiancée.

Even with this story, she still hid away for what would be his thirtieth birthday; she ignored her own.

It was both hard and easy to avoid actually having to mourn. She could pretend he was just on a trip or something. On the other hand she couldn't help but feel like he was deathly sick, but sick wasn't dead. She tried to ignore everything for the next couple of months, willing to give Oliver a full year before she went after him- just as she gave him time before.

She had already started packing when Christmas came around. She chose not to celebrate with anyone; her joining in the Christmas festivities had always been for other people's benefit.

She settled in with a bottle of wine and a Star Wars marathon. She hadn't moved an hour later when there was a knock on the door. She wasn't expecting anyone, but she pulled herself up anyway. When she opened the door she was faced with a man with ratty hair, half of a beard, and a bunch of scrapes and bruises. It didn't matter though.

"Oliver!" She launched herself at him, hearing him grunt at the pain. She started to back off almost instantly, but he wouldn't let her. She hugged herself to him and started sobbing on the porch.

"Felicity. Can we go inside before my shirt freezes?" She jumped back.

"Oh. Of course." It was barely an hour later that Oliver came back to the front room to join her; now looking more like her Oliver. He wasted no time, instead taking a few quick strides towards her and pressing his lips to hers, hard. When he pulled away she could see a look in his eye and for once it didn't scare her. She knew he wasn't going to back away this time.

"How did you know it was me at the door?" With a smile, Felicity placed a hand on either side of his face.

"How could I not know the man I love?"


End file.
